Bhubaneswar: A section of senior BJD leaders Saturday demanded strong action against Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sasmit Patra for ‘creating confusion’ among lawmakers ahead of the voting on Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the upper house of Parliament.
Patra, also the leader of the BJD in Rajya Sabha, is in the eye of the storm after revealing that he had voted in favour of the contentious Bill.
After the BJD announced it would oppose the Bill, and even party MP Muzibulla Khan spoke against it in Rajya Sabha April 3, Patra put out a post on X before voting, stating that party MPs could vote “as per their conscience” and that there was no whip issued to them.
This led to confusion among the lawmakers, and many senior leaders have raised questions about whether Patra could change the decision of Naveen Patnaik, who apart from being the BJD president, was also chairman of the parliamentary party.
“I abstained from voting due to confusion… the party had earlier decided to oppose the Bill and at the last moment, we were asked to vote as per our conscience,” another Rajya Sabha MP, Debasish Samantray, said.
He, however, chose not to blame Patra.
“Sasmit Patra is not the villain here. He does not take decisions, he merely follows instructions. The real power lies elsewhere, with the ‘chief advisor’,” Samantray told reporters, indicating a close aide of Patnaik.
He refused to divulge the name of the “chief advisor” and said, “Everybody knows who he is”.
The BJD MP also hinted at a “big deal” between the “chief advisor” and the BJP.
“There has been a big deal. The chief advisor has made some kind of arrangement with the BJP. A bureaucrat who has recently taken voluntary retirement may be part of this deal. You all know who has recently taken VRS. I leave it to your understanding,” Samantray said.
Senior Odisha cadre IAS officer Sujata R Karthikeyan, the wife of BJD president Naveen Patnaik’s former close aide V K Pandian, recently took voluntary retirement from government service.
Karthikeyan, a 2000-batch Odisha cadre officer, was serving as the special secretary in Odisha’s finance department.
At least two senior BJD leaders — Prafulla Samal and Pratap Jena — have written letters to Patnaik demanding action against Patra for “going against the party stand by voting in support of Waqf Bill”.
Also, Ganeswar Behera, the sitting MLA of Muslim-dominated Kendrapara assembly segment, also criticised Patra, questioning, “Who gave Patra the authority to change the party president’s decision?”
“He has committed a mistake for which he is liable to action. Only BJD president has the authority to change the decision of the parliamentary party and nobody else,” he told reporters, adding that this amounts to gross indiscipline.
Both Samal and Jena, in their letters to Patnaik, stated that the BJD continues to fight for the socio-economic development of minority communities, including Muslims.
“However, instead of winning the trust of the minority communities, such action of Patra has caused damage to the party’s image. Therefore, I urge you to take action as deemed fit,” Samal said.
Senior BJD leader and former minister Pratap Jena expressed displeasure over Patra’s action and termed the move “anti-party” and “shocking”.
“Patra’s recent social media posts reflect a mindset that contradicts the BJD’s ideological position,” Jena said.
Jena also raised suspicion over Patra’s behaviour and demanded a thorough inquiry into the matter.
“We must investigate who is behind this conspiracy, and people responsible for this should be held accountable,” he said, demanding disciplinary action against Patra.
BJD MLA and former minister Badri Narayan Patra was more critical: “This situation was a result of a deliberate mischief. How could Sasmit Patra dare to defy the BJD president’s decision and announce on his own X platform regarding the change of stand? He has put the entire party in a fix and this needs action.”
A senior BJD leader, on condition of anonymity, said party leaders representing Muslim-dominated constituencies are worried following the party’s change of stand on the Waqf Bill.
“The Muslims, who constitute over 2.17 per cent of the state’s population, have all along supported the BJD. Now, they may change their political affiliation to the Congress. The present situation has given a wrong message to the Muslim community,” he said.
Though a section of senior BJD leaders met Patnaik and held discussions on the matter Friday, the BJD president was yet to give any remark on the prevailing political situation.
Patra could not be contacted as he was on a tour to Tashkent from April 5 to 9 as part of the delegation of the 150th Assembly of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Reacting to the developments, Odisha BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal said, “The recent developments indicate that Patnaik has lost control over his party MPs. He could not impose a whip on them because he does not have command of the party.”
On allegations about a “deal” between BJD and BJP over the Waqf Bill, Samal said, “We do not do deals. Nation is first for us. People worried about the rights of poor Muslims have supported the Bill. The seven BJD MPs have been divided into three categories: those who supported the Bill, those who opposed it and those who abstained from voting. There is no unanimity in the BJD.”
PTI
